


In This Moment

by slothy_girl



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: 50 Sentences, Alternate Universe - Book/Movie Fusion, Canon - Book, Canon - Movie, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Fluff and Angst, Gen, M/M, POV Alternating, Snapshots, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, The Death Cure Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-15
Updated: 2015-12-15
Packaged: 2018-05-06 23:26:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5434781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slothy_girl/pseuds/slothy_girl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Snapshots spanning the Maze Runner Universe</p>
            </blockquote>





	In This Moment

**Author's Note:**

> My attempt at the 50 sentence challenge. The prompt I chose is found here: 100-prompts.livejournal.com/692.html
> 
> I haven't actually read the books, but I have done a lot of research online, read a lot of fic, and watched the movies (which, I know, aren't quite the same), so this is kind of like a weird conglomeration of both. Hopefully, it works okay though :P
> 
> Alternating POV: mostly Newt's and Thomas's, but also the occasional Glader and stuff.

1\. First Kiss

“Your shank ass better make it out of this alive,” Newt growls, pressing his mouth against the brunet’s slack, bloodless lips, fingers clenching the sweat damp fabric of Thomas’s shirt; Newt doesn’t know what the shuck he’ll do if Thomas was wrong, if injecting himself with that bloody griever venom doesn’t work out the way he planned.

2\. Final

The sound of the gunshot rings through the air, echoing, echoing, until it fades away, leaving Thomas alone with the lifeless corpse of another loved one he’s lost.

3\. Numb

When he first came to the Maze, all Newt felt was this heart pounding terror, a fear that followed him wherever he went, that increased exponentially when he had to run the Maze, but at least he had a purpose—they were going to get out of here; now, months later, though he's still afraid, he mostly just feels numb, empty, like maybe, just maybe, there isn’t a purpose to anything.

4\. Broken Wings

Newt wakes up sobbing, shame and disappointment, failure, coursing through him; his leg throbs painfully, a reminder.

5\. Melody

Few Gladers have been gifted with the talent of song, but when Newt cares to sing, usually some made up lullaby or jaunty tune while he works, silence falls across the Glade as everyone listens to the comforting drawls of their second in command.

6\. Rules

According to Alby, if it weren’t for the rules, the Glade would have fallen apart into chaos and ruin long ago; some rules, Thomas decides as he sprints into the Maze, were just made to be broken.

7\. Chocolate

The first time Newt had chocolate was the day Frypan, shaking and confused, as the boys always seem to be, came up in the box; it tasted bloody awful.

8\. Nostalgia

At least in the Glade, they could grow their own food, had a way of things that worked, were more or less safe against the horrors of the outside world; out here, they have nothing except fear, the clothes on their backs, and the ever decreasing number of friends to hold on to.

9\. Heartbeat

Ava is doing her routine glance at the subjects’ vitals, assessing, calculating, writing down the numbers that will hopefully someday lead to a cure, when she notices something a little odd; she squints at the two monitors in confusion before making a note on her clipboard: _it appears that Subject A2 and Subject A5’s heartbeats are exactly in sync, additional observation is advised._

10\. Stranger

He doesn’t know him very well, but there’s something about Newt that just screams familiar, something hidden in the corner of his mouth, the slant of his jaw, the darkness of his eyes, but Thomas just can’t seem to put his finger on it.

11\. Confusion

Newt stares at the crinkled Maze flower for a moment, brows drawn together; he glances up at the tentative smile on Thomas’s face, his dimples peaking out in his cheeks, and oh, _oh_.

12\. Bitter

He has every right to be bitter, to feel frayed at the edges and so bloody _angry_ ; after everything he’s been through, for his life to culminate into this one shucking moment—

13\. Afterlife

There’s sunlight on his face and the sounds of birds singing, but what catches his attention are the fingers tenderly running along the planes of his face, and he smiles because he _knows_ those hands and that scent of churned earth; he covers the hand cupping his cheek with his own, and opens his eyes to see Newt, grinning crookedly and saying, “Welcome home, Tommy.”

14\. Daybreak

Thomas watches dawn approach over the sandy horizon of the Scorch, adjusting his grip on the sleeping blond’s waist; they’re going to need to move on soon if they have any hope of reaching some kind of shelter before nightfall.

15\. Audience

Heart in his throat, his eyes foggy with tears, Thomas watches as Subject A5 cries, hands pressed tightly into the bruised hollows of his eyes, his mouth screwed up, his leg covered in red stained bandages.

16\. Endless Sorrow

Minho catches Thomas by the arm, finally concerned enough to say something; ever since they got to Paradise, Thomas hasn’t been the same, has hardly laughed, hardly slept, and it’s about time he got to the bottom of this—except, he takes one look at the twisted, fake smile on Thomas’s face, the wild, desperate look in his eyes, and all he can do is clutch Thomas’s arm tightly and wonder when his friend had been lost to him.

17\. Fireworks

Thomas mashes their mouths together, teeth grinding, skin blazing like it’s on fire; he clutches frantically at Newt’s face, his neck, his waist, pressing bruises into his fair skin, trying to reassure himself that Newt’s still alive, still bursting with energy, still with him.

18\. Wishing

“There’s nothing we can do for them, Thomas,” Newt says, voice rough with unshed tears, and he wishes that things could be different, that their friends weren’t dropping like flies, that more won’t likely join the others soon enough, but wishing has never worked for Newt before; why would it start to now?

19\. Happy Birthday to You

The closest thing Newt has to a birthday is the day he came up in that bloody box, and that’s no shucking day for celebration.

20\. Tomorrow

“We leave tomorrow,” Thomas mutters into the elegant curve of Newt’s neck, his arm thrown over the blond’s chest, curled up close and warm— the sound of grinding metal gears and the screeches of grievers suddenly resound across the Glade.

21\. Oppression

Gally doesn’t understand why Newt is being such a shank about Thomas, bending the shucking rules like the greenie is anything special; when have the rules ever been bent for him, why weren’t they changed for _Ben_?

22\. Agony

Learning to walk again tests the ends of his patience, and the pain in his leg is bad enough, but the anguish threatening to choke him any second doesn’t shucking help either.

23\. Return

They never thought they would return to this place, but here they are, back in WICKED’s clutches, waiting to hear what that shank Rat Man has to say; Thomas looks at Newt, the glue that keeps their group together, wondering what’s going to happen to them all next.

24\. Protection

They were supposed to be immune, _they were supposed to be immune_ , protected against the flare, from becoming cranks, but when he hears Rat Man call Newt’s name, like it’s no big deal, like the world isn’t shucking ending, like Thomas’s chest isn’t ripping open, his heart _squeezing_ , something breaks inside him.

25\. Boxes

Thomas scrambles out of the box, running on weak legs, trying to get away from the laughing boys, scared and confused, wildly fumbling for something, anything, but he doesn’t know—he doesn’t _know_.

26\. Hope

Getting out of the Glade, getting away from the Maze, it was supposed to mean things would get better, things would be safer; Thomas glances at Aris, thinking of the horrors they had seen the night before, thinking of Chuck and Alby and all the other boys they’ve lost, and he decides he won’t let anything else happen to his friends.

27\. Preparation

They don’t have any time to pack, to prepare anything; they just grab what they can stuff in their pockets before squeezing into the ventilation shafts, once again trying to escape, to get away from WICKED.

28\. Beautiful

Whenever Newt smiles, this rare, crooked thing, Thomas’s heart skips a beat, a little jolt that surprises him every time.

29\. Lies

“It’s okay, Thomas—everything will be fine,” Newt says, a twisted half smile on his face, like he doesn’t care that he has the Flare, like he doesn’t care he’s going to go crazy and die, leaving Thomas forever.

30\. Underneath

They lie out underneath the clouded, open sky, curled close together against the sand, against the sadness of another friend’s death, a faint, rumbling a distant noise across the plain.

31\. Hide

They hide out under the twisted remains of some metal structure, Winston’s heaving breaths and the screeches of those horrifying monsters the soundtrack of their night; Thomas grabs Newt’s hand and holds on, terrified for what’s to come next.

32\. Diary

“I can’t do this anymore,” Thomas tells the recording monitor, his voice choked and rough, clogged with sadness; he presses the heels of his hands into the hollows of his eyes until all he can see is pinprick stars and the broken boy on Maze floor.

33\. Unforeseen

That Teresa would betray them, would turn them back into WICKED, wasn’t something Thomas had expected; it wouldn’t be until later, her body crushed under concrete, tears streaming down his face as he gripped her hand in his, that he would forgive her.

34\. Conditional

“I love you, you know,” Newt stammers slightly, purple bruising under his wild eyes; he shoves a crumpled envelop into the brunet’s hand, forcing it closed and tightly clasping his own hands over Thomas’s, saying, “Please, Tommy—you’re the only one I can trust with this.”

35\. Gone

He can’t believe it; all those boys he had helped in the Glade, answered questions for, gave advice to, so many of them dead, so many of them gone, lost to them, never to return.

36\. Clear Skies

After the rain the day before, Newt is thankful for the clear skies of today; he can actually go out and garden, hopefully salvage what poor waterlogged plants he can, and maybe talk more to that greenie—no—Thomas.

37\. Heartache

He’s tired of death, of watching his friends die, of _being the one to pull the trigger_ ; if Thomas didn’t know better, he would think Newt took the last functioning piece of his heart with him when he died, but he does know better; it wouldn’t still hurt this much, months later, if he had.

38\. Wired

Thomas feels wild and full of energy, threatening to burst if he doesn’t do something; he rolls over, back into the welcoming cradle of Newt’s body, breathing heavy, eyes bright, grinning as he says, “We should do that again.”

39\. Insanity

The virus in his brain is supposed to slowly drive him insane, supposed to rot him from the inside out until he doesn’t remember anyone, until he doesn’t care about anyone; already he can feel the Changing happening, his anger boiling close to the surface, the madness setting in—at least the other won’t see him like this, at least Thomas won’t, and that’s the only thing, the only light to this whole bloody situation.

40\. Foolish

They were foolish to think that the Maze was the end of it, that they were safe now; Newt only regrets that they couldn’t have been oblivious a little longer.

41\. Words

Thomas could listen to Newt talk all day, his accent a lilting comfort even when the blond is livid and spitting curses at him for being a bloody shucking idiot, you could have died!

42\. Study

He studies Newt’s expression, watching the blond’s face for some sort of reaction, anything to tell Thomas what he’s thinking, what he’s feeling, but he needn’t have worried; Newt breaks into a smile, the widest one Thomas has ever seen, leaning forward to tentatively draw Thomas’s mouth to his, sighing, “Yeah, okay; let’s give this a shot.”

43\. Punctual

The gates have always opened and closed like clockwork, the same times every day; Newt only hopes that bloody shank won’t forget that while he’s off running, getting closer and closer to the answer to this Maze.

44\. Piggybank

Sometimes, Chuck wishes he had something to store up the good times they have here in the Glade, so when he sees the shadows cross Newt’s face, when Alby’s expression is thick with worry and anger, when Minho is losing hope, he could pull out the different memories, bright and happy, to remind them that it’s not all bad because at least they have each other, at least they’re not alone.

45\. Shooting Star

“Good that,” Newt pats Thomas companionably on the thigh before carefully standing up and walking off to the bonfire for more food; Thomas watches him leave for a moment before turning his gaze to the clear sky where, for a split second, he swears he sees a shooting star.

46\. Book

They don’t have many books here in the Glade, not from lack of wanting, but because only a few have been sent up in the box; most of these books are picture books, instruction manuals for things they need like how to garden and make tools, but there is one, a childish storybook that Minho likes to look at when knowing the truth, knowing everything is useless, is particularly stifling, and he can imagine for a couple minutes that everything is okay.

47\. Snoop

Aris isn’t entirely sure, but he thinks there’s something going on between that blond guy, Newt, and Thomas; ever since they regrouped at Marcus’s club, Thomas hasn’t left Newt’s side for more than a couple minutes at a time, the two of them having whispered conversations and sharing intense, significant looks, gripping each other by the arm in turns; when he tries to ask Frypan about it later that night, safe by the fire in the Right Arm’s camp, ‘cause maybe they know something everyone else doesn’t, all he gets is an exasperated eye roll, whatever that means.

48\. Fair

Thomas is surprised Newt’s skin doesn’t burn with how much he works out under the light of the sun with the rest of them; everyone else has long since freckled and tanned, but Newt’s stubborn skin refuses to stop being such a smooth, fair color.

49\. Worm

The burnet carefully unearths a worm, glances up at Newt before flicking it at Zart with an exaggerated yell; the reaming he gets from the embarrassed Keeper is worth the surprised, exasperated laugh Newt gave at Zart’s frightened shout.

50\. Bell

The bell chimes, and some of the boys wander over to the rising supply box; Newt hangs back, unconcerned until he hears a shout, watching as the new greenie, a gangly brunet, sprints off towards the walls of the Maze before tripping and wiping out hard in the grass; Newt hums in amusement, putting down the rope he was braiding, and decides he might as well go see what all the bloody fuss is about.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading :)


End file.
